Boxing Day.

A day of present unwrapping...but little did I know, an extra present was waiting for me.

I woke up bright and early this morning, eager to unwrap my gifts from beneath the tree. Paying no attention to the calling of my name, I keep at the careful picking of the tape on wrapping paper.

After the successful unwrapping, I rush the new hoard of gift cards, stationery and chocolates back to my room...but was stopped in my tracks by the mother. An astray of letters were thrown on top of my already piling hoard while I struggled to keep my balance.

After dropping the gifts onto the bed and sorting them into their respective spots in drawers and on the table, I get around to checking out the mail.

Bank.

Mobile company.

S.M. Ent.

Junk mail booklet.

Wait a second. Rewind.

What is an S.M. Ent. stamped envelope doing in my mail pile?

I open my email inbox to double check, and see an email from S.M. about Youth Star Auditions.

No way! S.M. is early for once? Or did they really plan for the letter to arrive on Boxing Day? Wait. What happens if the letter is bad news? Who'd want to open that kind of present on this day? Hmm, so it must've all been just a mere coincidence...

But do I really want to open it today? Now? Knowing that this could make or break me…I gave it my all at the auditions, and if my best still isn’t good enough…

It’s funny you know…it’s always more disappointing to come close to winning than be far off it. Coming in 2^nd place always feels worse than 3^rd…because you know deep down, that you only missed out by a hair. The higher you climb, the further you fall. The question is, am I ready to take that leap? Will I reach my final step? Or fall back down to reality?

I take a deep breath.

It’s now or never.

I hover my mouse over the email, close my eyes, and click.

I stilled for a few seconds before slowly raising my eyelids to focus on the words in front of me.

“Congratulations.”

I topple off my chair in a coughing fit for holding my breath but quickly recover to rush for the S.M. letter laid on my bed. I rip it open at the seams and empty out the contents. The same details said in the email appeared in print, but there were more pages.

Three electronic airplane tickets for a return trip to Seoul, Korea.